Cooking timer



Jan. 28, 1941. J7: D s 2,230,135

COOKING TIMER Filed July 16, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 28, 1941.

J. DE HAES COOKING TIMER Filed July 16, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lim i f W197i???" Urome fiefiaes wvas g Patented Jan. 28, 1941 COOKING TIMER Jerome De Haes, Chicago, 111., assignor of one-half to Albert S. Malecki, Chicago, Ill.

Application July 16, 1938, Serial No. 219,550

3 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in timers especially adapted for use in conjunction with stoves for controlling cooking operations, the primary object of the invention being the provision of a construction of the character indicated whereby the length of the cooking operations may be readily controlled and which is of simple construction and highly eificient in use.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which Fig. 1 is a face view of an electric clock employed in a timer embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 an enlarged detail face View of the upper portion thereof;

Fig. 3 a transverse medial section taken through the clock face;

Fig. 4 an enlarged detail vertical section taken through the upper portion of the clock face;

Fig. 5 a. section taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 a section taken substantially on line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 a top plan view corresponding with Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8 a diagrammatic view illustrating the electric circuits employed in the timer.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings comprises an ordinary electric clock provided with a face, the central portion ID of which constitutes the usual clock dial. A guide groove H is formed in said face outside of said clock dial and extends as shown twice around said dial. ranged as indicated in Fig. 3 over said clock face and the usual hour hand I3 and minute hand M are provided for cooperation with said clock dial. The minute hand shaft 15 is extended as shown through the cover plate 12 and is provided at its extreme outer end with a knurled wheel [6 by means of which said minute hand may be adjusted when desired. An adjusting sleeve I1 is loosely mounted as shown on the shaft I5 and carries a radially extending control arm 18 telescoping with an extension 19 provided at its outer end with a head 20 having sight opening 2| therein and an indicator point 22 at the outer central part of said opening. A pin 23 is provided on the rear side of the head 20 which operates in the groove II and a friction washer 24 is interposed between the hub of A transparent cover I2 is arthe minute hand [4 and the hub of the sleeve ll thereby frictionally connecting the sleeve ll with the shaft l5 so that the control arm Iii-l9 will always move with the minute hand of the clock mechanism. The sleeve ll is provided as 5 shown, outside of the cover plate l2 with a knurled wheel ll whereby the control arm lB-I 3 may be readily adjusted, from outside the cover plate, with reference to the minute hand 14.

A swinging lever 25 is pivoted as shown at the rear of the clock face and is provided with an outwardly extending arm 26 operating in a segmental slot 2'! in the clock face, said arm 26 thus extending outwardly into the path of the pin 23 on the head 20 of the control arm l8i9. A Weighted arm 28 is attached, as best shown in Fig. 6, to the swinging lever 25 and serves to hold said lever normally in its initial position before being engaged by the pin 23. By this arrangement, it will be noted, that when the pin 23 is moved upwardly in the groove H until it passes the slot 27, it will engage the protruding end of the arm 26 and thus carry the swinging lever 25, with it. The swinging lever is also provided with a rearwardly ex- 25 tending electric contact arm 29 having a spring extension 30 which is set as shown in the path of the stationary electric contact 3| having depressed and beveled nose or tip 32, best shown in Fig. 5. The stationary contact 3| is connected 30 by a wire 33 with an electric alarm buzzer 34 which in turn is connected by wire 35 with one of the leads 36 for the clock mechanism. The contact arm 29--3i3 is likewise connected by a wire 3'! with the other electric lead 38 of the 35 clock mechanism so that whenever the extension 3 3 makes rubbing contact with the stationary electric contact 3! the circuit through the buzzer 34 is closed thus sounding an alarm signal.

In use and operation, when it is desired to con- 40 trol the length of a cooking or other operation, the control arm 13-49 is adjusted by means of the wheel H the required number of minutes away from the twelve oclock point on the clock dial. Thus in the position of the parts indicated in Fig. 1, the control arm l8l9 is shown as set twelve and one-half minutes away from the twelve oclock point on the clock dial. As the minute hand shaft l5 moves under the usual operation of the clock mechanism, the control arm Iii-19 will be carried along with it and when the pin 23 engages the arm 25 the contact 39 will be swung into engagement with the contact 3! thus closing the circuit to the buzzer 34 and sounding the alarm and notifying the operator that the ms allotted time has elapsed. Obviously, the further the control arm i8 is thus set away from the twelve oclock point on the clock dial, the longer the time consumed before the same is carried with the minute hand into operative contact with the arm 26, Should it be desired to set the control arm for a period longer than sixty minutes, the wheel I1 is manipulated to carry the pin once entirely around the clock dial and thence into the inner portion of the groove II, as illustrated by the full line position of said control arm shown in Fig. 2, said control arm being here set to require approximately 67 minutes before the pin 23 will be brought into contact with the arm 26. Likewise by setting the control arm of the pin 23 even further along in the groove H, the same may be set for the lapse of a greater time up to substantially the full two hour or one hundred and twenty minute limit. As the arm 26 is thus engaged by the pin 23, the spring contact 30 is moved into engagement with the beveled nose 32 of the contact 3|, thereby riding up over the top of said contact 3! and closing the circuit through the alarm buzzer 34 as long as this Contact is maintained. The arrangement is such that the contact 3!) rides off of the end of the contact 3| just before the arm 26 reaches the end of the movement permitted by slot 21, at which time the said arm 39 springs downwardly below the contact 3| as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 5. When arm I8 is reset, the weighted arm 28 operates automatically to return the contact 30 to initial position, as indicated by the full lines in Fig. 5, thus resetting the mechanism for another operation when desiredv By this arrangement a simple and effective timer is provided which may be utilized in cooking or other operations; which is accurate and dependable in use; in which the control arm may be readily set from outside of the clock mechanism and without disturbing the clock mechanism; in which the ordinary hands of the clock may be readily set without disturbing the timer mechanism; and is of simple construction and highly efficient in use.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying the invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details disclosed, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a clock shaft, of a control arm mounted thereon; a spring electric contact shiftable by said control arm when it reaches a predetermined point; a stationary electric contact set in the middle portion of the path of and arranged to deflect said spring contact out of its normal path; and means for automatically returning said spring contact to initial position.

2. The combination with a clock shaft, of a control arm frictionally adjustable thereon; a swinging lever arranged to be moved by said control arm when it reaches a predetermined point; a spring electric contact carried by said lever; a stationary electric contact set in the middle portion of the path of said spring contact; and a weight automatically returning said swinging lever to initial position.

3. The combination with a clock shaft, of a control arm frictionally adjustable thereon; a swinging lever arranged to be moved by said control arm when it reaches a predetermined point; a spring electric contact carried by said lever; a stationary electric contact set in the middle portion of the path of said spring contact and arranged to deflect said spring contact out of its normal path; and a Weight automatically returning said swinging lever to initial position.

JEROME DE HAES. 

